Rays Designate Josh Lueke For Assignment

The Rays have designated reliever Josh Lueke for assignment, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The move clears space on the Rays’ 25-man roster for fellow pitcher Kirby Yates, who had posted dominating numbers for Triple-A Durham (with a 0.36 ERA, 12.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 25 innings).

Lueke, 29, had posted a 5.64 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 30 1/3 innings with the Rays in 2014. He has been in the Rays organization since November 2011, when the team acquired him from the Mariners for John Jaso. Lueke posted extremely strong numbers for Durham in 2013, but has struggled to translate those results to the big-league level.